cortex 107 (2018) 1e3 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cortex Special issue: Editorial Tribute to Glyn W. Humphreys, 1954e2016 Martin Edwards a, Monika Harvey b and Julie Snowden c,d,* a Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium b School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, UK c Cerebral Function Unit, Neuroscience Centre, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, UK d Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, University of Manchester, UK article info (obituary Cortex 2016; 75: A1eA2) is a profound loss to cognitive neuroscience. Article history: It is fitting that a Special Issue dedicated to Glyn'smemoryshould Received 3 July 2018 be published in Cortex, whose stated remit is “the study of cognition Accepted 4 July 2018 and the relationship between the nervous system and mental pro- Published online 26 July 2018 cesses”. The description encapsulates Glyn's work. Glyn started his career at the University of Bristol in the 1970s. His PhD involved letter and word perceptual recognition, using state-of-the-art technology of the time, combined with clever priming experimental design (Humphreys, 1978). His scientific aptitude and creativity were early indicators of what was to come. In 1979, Glyn moved to Birbeck College, where he met his wife and scientific partner, Jane Riddoch. Together, they formed a team, located at the University of Bir- mingham in 1989 and at the University of Oxford in 2011, that changed the face of cognitive neuropsychology. Their meticulous studies of patients with brain disorders are a model par excellence of how neuropsychological investigation can inform understanding of brain function. Perhaps best known is the intensive study of a single patient HJA, who developed visual agnosia following stroke (Humphreys & Riddoch, 1987; Riddoch & Humphreys, 1987). This As one of the greatest, most influential and generous collaborative work on visual processing was far-reaching, informing psychologists of our time, Glyn Humphreys made huge scientific our understanding of the distinct processes involved in object contributions in cognitive and neuropsychology. He published over recognition (Humphreys & Riddoch, 2006) and having implications 700 articles and 16 books, and he and his group gave countless for phenomena such as category specificity (Humphreys & Forde, presentations, not only to the international academic community, 2001; Humphreys & Riddoch, 2003). Glyn's research had practical but also to allied healthcare professionals, industry, numerous merit too. He was not only interested in theoretical underpinnings. charitable partners and public audiences. In recognition of these He was also interested in the ways that theoretical knowledge could achievements, Glyn was awarded the Spearman Medal, the Presi- be harnessed to improve clinical assessment, treatment and man- dent's Award and the Prize for Cognitive Psychology from the British agement of patients. The development of the Birmingham Object Psychological Society, the Donald Broadbent Prize from the Euro- Recognition Battery (BORB), a battery of neuropsychological tests for pean Society for Cognitive Psychology, a Humboldt Fellowship, a the systematic assessment of the visual processes involved in object Leibniz Professorship and a Special Professorship of the Chinese recognition, is an early practical example of Glyn's endeavour to link Academy of Sciences. His tragic early death in January 2016 * Corresponding author. Cerebral Function Unit, Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford M6 8HD, UK. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Edwards), [email protected] (M. Harvey), julie.snowden@man- chester.ac.uk (J. Snowden). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2018.07.005 0010-9452/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 2 cortex 107 (2018) 1e3 theory to practice. The battery has long been in widespread use in attention has provided a testable hypothesis for this and many clinics specialising in neuropsychological diagnosis and other subsequent studies on visual attention. management. The theme of interactive cognitive processes, prominent in Glyn's A running theme underlying Glyn's research is the interactive work, is addressed by Shalev (2018), who investigate the interaction nature of cognitive processes: between action and perception between sustained and selective spatial attention, by Farooqui and (Humphreys & Riddoch, 2001; Humphreys et al., 2010; Riddoch, Manly (2018), who investigate the role of frontal-parietal regions in Humphreys, Edwards, Baker, & Willson, 2003), attention and the interaction between goal processing and selective attention, and perception (Duncan & Humphreys, 1989) and working memory by Fallon et al. (2018) who explore relationship between aspects of and visual selection (Soto, Humphreys, & Rothstein, 2007). Glyn's attention and working memory. Ward et al. (2018) report the research interests extended to executive functions and social intriguing relationship of autistic traits of sensory sensitivity and cognition (Rumiati & Humphreys, 2015), the neuropsychology of attention-to-detail to synaesthesia. The parietal lobes were an theory of mind (Samson, Apperley, Chiavarino, & Humphreys, important focus of Glyn'swork,andRugg and King (2018) review their 2004) and self versus other cognition (Sui, He, & Humphreys, 2012). role in episodic memory retrieval. Lenoble et al. (2018) explore The theme of interactive processes greatly influenced Glyn's attentional factors in visual search in Alzheimer'sdisease. views about neuropsychology in clinical practice. He saw the A central feature of Glyn's work on visual processing was the importance of assessments that encompassed multiple cognitive distinction between semantic and pre-semantic levels of pro- domains, and his experience told him that many patients are un- cessing. The studies by Snowden et al. (2018) and Woollams and able to tolerate prolonged cognitive assessments. His development Patterson (2018) both focus on semantic dementia, a disorder of the Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) (Bickerton et al., 2012), that affects the ability to understand words and to recognize ob- and Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS) (Demeyere, Riddoch, Slavkova, jects that are perceived normally. Following Glyn's work on cate- Bickerton, & Humphreys, 2015) was motivated by the desire to gory specificity, Aiello et al. (2018) explore memory for sub- provide a brief practical assessment for evaluating cognition in categories of information: natural and transformed foods, and brain-damaged patients across multiple domains. Increasingly, Romero et al. (2018) investigate the practical effects of willingness- Glyn was concerned that his theoretical knowledge should have to-pay on 2D versus real foods of different calorific content. practical benefit for patients. Therefore, aside from his many Several articles focus on executive functions. The interference achievements and accolades as a leading scientist, Glyn worked effects (capture errors) in working memory tasks reported by Roca tirelessly to promote the discipline to society. He played an essen- et al. (2018) are reminiscent of the repetitions/intrusions of ac- tial role in the Stroke Association and NIHR to drive policy for tions described by Glyn in patients with frontal lobe pathology neuropsychology, coining the slogan “Cognition Matters”. (Humphreys & Forde, 1998; Riddoch, Edwards, Humphreys, West, Glyn was renowned for the opportunities that he provided, and & Heafied, 1998). Varjacic et al. (2018), examine the anatomical the support that he gave to enhance the development of the ca- basis for executive set shifting using an analogue of the Trail reers of young future leaders. His lab always buzzed with activity, Making test drawn from the OCS battery developed by Glyn's with many PhDs, postdocs and visiting researchers driving high- research group. Wu et al. (2018) test predictions about gambling quality research, yet doing so within a calm-friendly-social at- behaviour in high-level autism. Soto et al. (2018) describe an fMRI mosphere. With time, his group grew exponentially. People who study of metacognitive processing. Giorgio et al. (2018) also pre- worked with Glyn never left him; a connection always remained, sent an fMRI study, which examines the neural networks involved and he became tied to many offspring research groups all over the in learning predictive statistics. world. The same was true for the patients who worked with Glyn Glyn's interest in the practical implications of his research for and Jane. They all dedicated their time willingly, often for several the assessment and management of patients is reflected by the years, and Glyn and Jane delivered a new fundamental under- rehabilitation studies of Alsamour et al. (2018), and Wang et al. standing of patients' conditions and cognitive functions. (2018). Glyn's wide-ranging scientific interests are reflected in the Glyn had strong views on the importance of neuropsychology breadth of topics covered in this Special Issue, ranging from visual and its future role in driving our understanding of brain- attention, memory, executive function and social cognition to behaviour relationships. Price (2018) provides an historical and cognitive rehabilitation and cognitive/neuropsychological models future perspective on how cognitive models of human brain of brain function. In keeping with Glyn's life-long emphasis, the